Her Stardust Path
by kana.longfang
Summary: Standing in the middle of an unknown city was not the first thing Azalea had planned to do with her family that evening. With only pieces of their memories left, they set out hoping to put them back together. Yet with each recollection comes a more complex problem. Lucky for them, help is on its way! Still, one can't help but wonder...will they ever get home?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The street was a wet, hard texture beneath me. That is my primary impression. Lily's bushy tail had her caught on a cute little tree, one of many to line the streets. My brother was resting soundly on a bush, but my parents and I were not so lucky. The humidity was suffocating, but no fog to support it. Only a foretaste of rain with a sense of overhanging clouds in the night sky.

Rubbing my sore rump, I sat up, watching everyone else recover from their fall. The street was empty and lined with shops; lucky for us, no one would be taking notice of us here.

My mother stood, giving herself a shake to rid her flank of gravel. She offered her hand to my father, who took it gladly, attempting to regain his bearings. Lily had managed to free herself with an ungraceful thud and my brother rolled out of the bush with a moan. In turn, I stood, and looked up and around. This unknown place was pretty nice. It gave off a humble and cozy vibe, even if this was just the stores.

"Is everyone all right?" dad asked, meaning our physical selves and not mental. Everyone nodded.

"This is a neat place. I wish I knew what it was though," Lily said, leaning excessively as if she was going to get a better look by doing so.

"It's obviously a town," Sullivan retorted.

"That's not what I mean," Lily pouted. Of course, we all understood what she was trying to say. It was the classic, "where the fuck are we?" situation. My eyes rolled up as far as they could, attempting to recall something, anything, but nothing came to mind besides the falling and landing. Everyone else's face illustrated effort. Ultimately it was silently concluded that no one could remember much of anything. The only thing we knew was who was who and how we felt about them, but little past that. We couldn't even remember how that came to be.

"What's the game plan mom?" I asked, knowing full well she had figured out the first step to our problem.

"Find the nearest place to sleep," she stated, staring down at a strange metal hole in the center of the street. Sullivan lifted it, and we scrunched our noses, but acknowledged there probably wasn't any other choice. One by one we slid down the ladder and landed on the small concrete rim to avoid the smelly water. Curling up with one another, we settled into a restless sleep, only to wake up a few hours later in the same daze we landed in.

* * *

Minimal sunlight filtered through the two holes on the metal disk above us. We could hear the strange sound of something crunching on the gravel paths. Considering we knew nothing of this world, my mother directed that we take off anything that was too suspicious. This meant any obvious weapons and outerwear. My father removed his armor to what seemed to Sullivan and I like the first time in our lives. My mother put her larger throwing knives down next to my single blade. As for Sullivan and Lily, they had nothing that needed to be removed . Thus, after Lily constructed a rookie, temporary barrier that made the objects virtually unobtainable, we attempted to exit what we read to be the "sewers" the way we entered.

My father pushed the lid up cautiously, the road having been silent for quite some time. By sliding it to the side and climbing up, we took the signal and followed close behind. The last to come up was Lily, and we respectfully put the lid back on and walked onto the sidewalk. The town, although more active, was not as crowded as it had primarily seemed. The occasional person walked by, but did not look twice at us. We took this as a slightly good sign because that meant we must not be anything new here.

"Spread out and scan the area. See if you can find anything that triggers a memory or looks familiar. We meet back here, understood?" My father scuffed his boots on the concrete before striding off, assuming we realized it was a rhetorical question. My mother dashed off, and soon we broke apart in separate directions.

Lily accompanied me as I took to the rooftops. She was a unique but young member of our family, although no way related to us. This was obvious because she was the only fox among us. Also, unlike us, her skills weren't physical. Her abilities derived from her mind, also known as psychokinesis.

From what I could see there were two main attractions, a large hotel as well as a casino just behind it. I could see my brother inspecting what I assumed to be their City Hall or maybe their library. My father was headed toward the beach as my mother went up the tube-like elevator into an amusement park. A sinking feeling became obvious in my chest.

"This is pointless Azalea. We all see that we don't know where we are," said Lily, pacing around impatiently.

"I know Lil but you know how they are. The idea is to try first, then reconvene and share what we've learned. Who knows, maybe we'll find something," I said, trying to ease her impatience but not believing much of what I said myself. "Besides, no one's freaked out at the sight of us, which means there must be something _like_ us here."

"Yeah like there could ever be something similar to us," scoffed Lily. I had to admit, she had a point. There was no telling we would find anyone like us in skill or appearance. She found this something to be proud of, and went off on a rant that I wasn't listening to. Instead I stood intent on the breeze, my legs stirring.

Making a full turn I soaked it all in: The cars speeding as the heavy and damp air hinted at rain. The occasional chatter of people unassuming of anything but their lives, but mostly the cars and the streets as my legs itched to join them.

"Now that I look at it, doesn't this place look like the perfect area to just run around in and zip by without anyone noticing? So many things to look at, at once…."

In an instant, fragments came to mind.

Flames and purple. My brother and I running, chests heaving from the exertion of keeping up and laughing. Sitting intently but only hearing the voice of who we were listening to, who mentioned a warrior from another dimension. He was fast if not faster than her, and a hero by heart. He had many names, like blue blur, or even….

"And Sonic the Hedgehog brings peace to this world once more! He's once again shut down Eggman and any ludicrous plan…"

The large screen attached to one of the taller buildings near the hotel boomed as a news reporter spoke, a strange-looking creature appearing for a split second to smile and give the crows a thumbs up before disappearing.

"So this is who Blaze must've been talking about," said Lily. My head snapped around to look at her; she looked pretty shocked herself.

"Did you remember something too?" I asked urgently. She nodded stiffly.

"Blaze was the princess of our home. We must've been close, cause from what I remember she acted like it, but other than that…I can't…"

She scrunched up her face in pain. Obviously, our minds weren't prepared to recall so much at once.

"Take it down a notch Lil. All in good time, but this is definitely a start." I gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, watching the replay of Sonic's new victory.

"Definitely a start…"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Night began to fall, and all I could really take note of was how new everything seemed, especially with all the lights on. The busiest area was the train station out in the distance, splitting the town from the commercial part to the more densely inhabited part. My brother was reviewing that area now, the library like building being its center piece.

The hotel was rather large, and seemed to have always sat so close to the ocean waters. However behind it was where people gathered, entertaining themselves with the casino. It was surrounded by businesses, but the most obvious was a skyscraper that held a TV. The purpose seemed to be so that everyone could see it, regardless of where you were in town.

My father was almost finished with his rounds, examining the casino area. My mother had finished her inspection of the amusement park rather quickly and scoped the streets at the bottom. My brother made quick work of the tightly wound streets. That just left me and Lily standing as if supervising, but not needing to make any real effort to check anything ourselves. Soon enough, my father approached the fountain before the hotel and howled, signaling the change in the rendezvous point. I landed gracefully in front of him, now noticing upon closer inspection that it was a stone statue of the strange blue creature. Lily and my mother soon joined us. Sully was the last to arrive.

"Have any of us recalled anything?" dad asked.

"Well I can't say that this place looks familiar, though it _is_ nice. Very child friendly," informed Sully.

"Dad was asking what we recalled. Not what we didn't " I taunted, sticking my tongue out at him when he gave a fake snarl. Immediately we put it away, because I could see that our parents were short of patience.

"This isn't a time for games," growled mother rather gruffly, looking a bit bedraggled.

Cars whooshed by in circles around the fountain, ruffling our wet fur as the rain finally began to pitter patter on whatever it chose to. People rushed home and drivers stopped staring at us suspiciously. I suddenly wondered what my family and I would be doing at this time of night on a normal day. Surely mom wouldn't be so stressed out.

"All that came to mind were instances of Sully and I running and someone telling us about a blue hero," I explained. "I think she meant that Sonic the hedge-whatever that was the big screen earlier."

"There was a princess where we lived too. Her name was Blaze, and she was really comfortable around Azalea, Sullivan, and me," chimed Lily.

For a moment everyone looked thoughtful. Sully started to nod his head with a blank stare and looked at me.

"That definitely sounds familiar," he agreed. Mom and Dad however, didn't look so convinced.

"I say we find this hero," Lily said to no one in particular. Sully and I looked at each other and back at her. Sometimes I really did believe we were mentally linked.

"Would finding him really benefit us?" muttered my mother who was surely listing the consequences of getting someone else involved. Dad began shaking his head slowly.

Sully, Lily, and I stood for what seemed too long. We didn't have anything else to say, and persuading our parents at this point was risky. It made sense to keep this to ourselves, but it felt out of our hands at this point. My eyes glanced at the Sonic statue, frozen in a smile. There was no guarantee this "blue blur" would want to help us either, but it might be the only choice we have left.

Once we were soaked enough to shake out a personal storm of our own did my parents finally look at us. The distaste of having no other immediate choices made this hard for them to swallow.

"Look from what we know, it seems we were in league with some powerful people where we lived. This "princess" must have trusted us, and if Zelly is right the princess must have encountered this thing at some point." He gestured grandly toward the commercial area's center piece. "He must know something that could point us in the right direction."

"Son you must realize that this is a big risk. We don't know enough about ourselves to be willing to risk exposing anything personal we have left. Who is to say this Sonic is not actually a hero? Maybe this Princess Blaze was not actually someone we should have trusted," mom lectured.

"Mom it's the only thing we have to go off of!" Sully shouted in frustration. Any other day and he would've gotten the teeth knocked out of his muzzle, but for today our parents just stared at him.

"What he means is that we can't wait for something to just pop up. We have to go after it, and Sonic is our best bet," I stated more calmly. Mom and dad's fur stopped bristling for a moment and they sighed.

"I suppose so," dad conceded. Mom was silent, but we took it for an agreement.

"Yes, suppose, but how do we get his attention in the first place? Does he stay in one place, and if he doesn't, what is going to make him want to talk to us?" challenged mom.

"Stealing stuff," Lily stated simply. Sully and I stared at her. She said it way too comfortably.

"Do you have a better idea?" she said.

"Yeah, how about some shelter from this rain," Sully commented rather pointedly at Lily.

"I don't want to deplete my energy just 'cause you can't stand a bit of rain," she hissed. "We're running on sleep and _only_ sleep after all."

"That sounds like a Lil problem," retorted my brother, his way of saying I don't give a shit now stop this rain from wetting us. Of course, he was doing it just to piss her off, but I glared at him anyways and then gestured toward the hotel. It was, after all, a public place.

Swiftly we made our way across the short strip of road and entered the doors (funny thing, you didn't need to push or pull it). Trembling from the sudden realization at how wet our fur was, we shook off in the middle of the lobby. Only a few people were around, but nowhere near us to get hit.

"I'm sorry but dogs aren't a-," a worker walked up to us and then paused, mouth half-opened as he reassessed our appearance. Taken aback, he shut up and pretended as if he had not begun to talk, stealing away behind the desk. From the looks of it, he was the only one working there for now.

"Excuse us. We just need to get out of the rain for a moment," said our father politely. The worker gave a terse nod. Out of courtesy I grabbed a newspaper to look preoccupied. Suddenly, I got the feeling someone was looking out for us.

Just then another automatic door opened with a ding, but this time within the building. Out strode a woman who whispered to the clerk for assistance. He rushed off with her back into the same doors.

"Guys, I think I just found what we need to put Lil's plan into motion." Turning around I showed them the front page headline:

**_Rare Emerald on Exhibition in New Station Square_**

Ever so kindly it gave details as to its location and even a picture.

"This is way too easy."

Little did we know, my brother would be right.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The metal clang sounded incredibly lonely down in the waterways. Once again my father was armored, and my mother rearmed. Sully was pacing up and down while Lily leaned against the wall, tapping her foot perpetually. As much as we had agreed to Lily's idea of making a scene in stealing something rare, we weren't completely comfortable with how the persuasion route had gone.

"Mom, Dad please let Sully and I handle this," I pleaded. "We can do this."

"No Azalea," said my father in a clipped tone. The whole walk back from the hotel had been a back and forth argument from Sully to both parents to Sully to mom and me to dad and the whole mix up. Lily had made the right choice in staying quiet because she could see this was, in its own way, a family problem. My parents' patience had worn thin and they were exasperated with us; they still didn't believe this idea would work, but they couldn't give us a proper reason why we shouldn't do it.

"The point was for Zelly and I to go in so if anything happens you guys wo-"

"Sullivan this is a moot point. Your father and I are going and that is final," snapped our mother. Fuming, she began to climb the ladder to the city streets.

Dad was about to grab onto a rung himself before turning to us.

"Your mother doesn't want to give you more credit than you deserve, but you must understand. You and Sullivan are younger, but ultimately you are our children. Should anything come to harm us, we feel safe that you are more likely to survive. We have lived a prosperous life, or, must have. We only hope to give you the chance to look back on yours and feel the same way."

With that he clambered up and lifted himself onto the streets, kicking the lid back over the hole.

"It's really nice to know you have parents to look out for you," Lil said.

"It has its ups and downs Lil, but yeah. It's a different kind of love." Sully looked at Lily for a moment and gave a sympathetic smile. "Now what's that face for? I mean I know we're not much, but you still have us."

"You're right, you're not much," sneered Lil, snapping out of her sentimental moment, "and if I didn't know any better I'd think that you guys were actually going to sit around and wait for them."

"For a nine year old you're pretty clever." Picking up my single blade, I flipped it. I couldn't recall learning to fight, but it felt pretty comfortable in my paw.

Biding our time until we were sure our parents were on their way if not at their destination by now, we popped the lid and burst out from the dark watery depths. With Lil weighing me down, I was able to pace myself with Sully. He was pretty fast, but I was a lot faster.

Springing onto the awning and then the shop's roof, we headed toward the casino area.

"Why of all places would you keep a piece of jewelry in a casino?" questioned Lil. My brother and I shrugged.

"Well like dad said, it seemed that it was pretty well guarded for a simple casino. They must be used to keeping rare stuff round," my brother explained.

As we closed in on the casino, flashing blue, white, and red lights came into sight. Sully stopped in his tracks, the wailing sirens making our ears ring.

"Hold Lil," I commanded.

"Wait where are you going?" Sully shouted, but decided that catching Lily was more important than waiting for an answer.

What I saw in that moment gave me a sensation of honest fear.

Black and white cars with the word "Police" written on them had surrounded the front of the brightly lit casino. People were rushing out and pushed back by men dressed in shades of blue. All were armed with a small gun; some crouched behind their cars, while one stood talking into something.

Dropping to my belly, I slithered further up and peeked over the edge and tried to get a better

Unfortunately, I got the message loud and clear when an aircraft whizzed by overhead, practically knocking me off the roof. Suddenly, large robots began appearing out of what seemed grasp of what the man was saying over the ear-piercing sirens and chatter. like thin air and an intimidating black truck rammed its way into the narrow path. Lights shone from air-crafts and flying robots while others stood no two feet, ready to fire at the doorway.

"Rouge the Bat, please exit with your feet on the ground and hands where we can see them," announced a man who exited the black vehicle. Upon closer inspection I read that it said "G.U.N". Looking at the scene, I would say they were pretty accurately named.

Still, it doesn't matter how many weapons you have. My parents were something else altogether.

They would be disappointed that Rouge wouldn't be making her debut, but they surely weren't disappointed when they saw a giant golden Sonic statue destroy the casino's roof and lean against the skyscraper next to it. Mom and dad came sprinting up it and into the level of the building next door, shattering the window to land on the next rooftop. In their palm was the bright yellow emerald, larger than anticipated.

Shots were fired and airborne robots and crafts sent on their pursuit.

"Over my dead body," I snarled under my breath, and sprang with all the force I could muster, landing on the top of the odd contraption before viciously putting my sword through it. Pieces of debris suddenly joined the air battle with me. I didn't need to turn to know that Lily was somewhere behind me, wearing herself out by picking up the wreckage our parents had left.

Jumping from robot to robot, I saw police cars being overturned with a primitive grunt of exertion. Sullivan was surely going all out on them, trying his best to slow them down below. Lily was trying to cover the both of us while I was sticking to the air. They weren't particularly sturdy, so a simple stab or kick was enough to make them implode. I learned quickly though that a single shot did more than just singe your fur when it skimmed you.

A familiar scream turned to join the terrorized masses as I turned to see Lil falling off the roof, a robot having suddenly appeared behind her. Dropping off the aircraft I had madly stabbed and busted an engine, I dove gracefully and caught her before she could hit the ground. Making sure my back was to the casino, I surveyed exactly what we were up against.

It wasn't pretty.

The searchlight shone on us. Now it was only G.U.N. and us, the police having long fled on foot with all their cars destroyed in Sully's attempts to buy our parents time. His plans had been foiled once the large black truck came ramming toward him, and now he scurried along the edge of the battlefield to join us in the center of attention.

"What now?" I looked at Sully. It looked like everyone here was asking themselves that, because no one made a move.

"What's this? A welcoming committee? It's about time someone gave me more credit." A snide tone echoed throughout the battle zone.

"No surprise someone like you would be involved," spoke a G.U.N official.

"Someone like me? Well if I wasn't around who would put you guys in your place?"

I must have been exhausted, because my vision became streaked with blue and the robots began to explode. The few leftover G.U.N soldiers began looking around them, frightened, before shooting up and around. Bullets ricocheted off of a surface in front of me I assume Lil constructed to protect us.

One of the men's piece of gear shook. Putting a hand to his ear he nodded and shouted, "Retreat!" With all the robots ready for the junk yard, no one objected. They ran in a neat formation before another car skid to a halt in front of them and picked them up. Once they had driven off successfully did I drop to my knees, shaking and confused.

"Ha piece of cake. You guys never learn." He kicked at a metal joint with his red and white sneakers.

Slowly I looked up and stared at him, too out of breath to feel relieved. I couldn't believe it.

"No way," gasped Sully through long breaths.

_"He has an interesting way of handling things,"_ she would say with a distant gaze. _"Who knows, maybe things would be different if I hadn't met him. Maybe you and I wouldn't be where we are today. He taught me there was nothing wrong with friendship, and that being strong doesn't mean being alone."_

"Y-You're…." Lily's voice quavered from the shock.

His ears perked and he finally turned sideways to acknowledge us. It was as if he hadn't just gone out of his way to save our lives.

With a rather cocky smile and a hand on his waist he said, "Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog."

Sully sank down next to me and we both looked at each other, then at everything else around us. The concrete was dark from bullets and the shells lay scattered everywhere. Obviously, the casino and its neighboring building would take some time to recover from this recent disaster. The air was thick with the smell of burnt metal and rubber. What we were thinking was obvious. This hedgehog better be know something, because at this point we had lost everything we had left.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The rain began to pick itself back up again, filling in the silence with its own melody. I guess dad's wish would come true. Maybe we would get the chance to look back on our lives and feel good about it. Guilt washed over me when the silhouette of a black helicopter could be seen in the distance. The three of us were very aware that there was no point in looking for mom and dad because they were at the hands of G.U.N.

"Uh anybody home?" Sonic angled his body toward us, an eyebrow raised.

Recovering from my momentary fatigue, I staggered to my feet. He looked confused and a bit on the "I want to leave" side but decided to tolerate our lethargic behavior. Usually it was hard for me to ignore my feelings, and this moment definitely wasn't an exception. Still, I plastered on my most casual smile for the sake of avoiding hostility.

"Ah ha sorry we're just kind of taken aback as you can see. I mean the sudden encounter with," I made a frantic gesture toward what was left of the robots, "and then to meet someone so renowned in one day is kind of shocking, to say the least."

"Uh all right…well you're welcome, I think. Well maybe I'll catch ya later."

"Wait!" He put his feet far out in front of him with a screech. "Um what I'm trying to get at here is you must know a lot of people right?"

My face was pretty stretched out from my awkward smile, so I put it away. Lily and Sully didn't seem to have any intention of intervening. It's as if they forgot I wasn't exactly the best at people pleasing. Then again, they may have actually forgotten.

Sonic looked up, seeming displeased with the sky for so much water. "I guess."

"Well, have you ever met someone named Blaze?" For a moment I could have sworn his face lit up in recognition.

"The-"

Coincidentally, the large screen overhead turned itself on. The announcer from earlier today reappeared, more disheveled looking and nervous than before. Taking a swig from a nearby cup, he inhaled deeply.

"Good evening. Tonight we have urgent news from the mayor that all houses should be locked and no one should leave until further notice. There has been a robbing at the casino and although it is assumed that the thieves have been caught, their accomplices are still at large." He continued to illustrate the scene as the screen changed and video footage of my mother and father being surrounded by the robots was shown. Unsurprisingly most of the robots were taken out; it was the enormous black truck and injuries that had done them in.

A tiny light shone from above, making my eyes hurt.

"Crap," said Sully. They had changed the footage once more, showing the disaster that had occurred at the casino. Lily waved experimentally. The footage couldn't have been more live than this.

"Well talk about revisiting the scene of the crime folks. Wait, is that?"

Inevitably sirens began to cry out in the distance. There was no time to wonder how bad this looked to Sonic. I snatched Sully up in my arms and didn't even need to tell Sonic to grab Lily.

"Hey!" complained my brother.

"Try and keep up," taunted Sonic, getting an unfair head start. Digging my heels into the concrete, I tried to get as much traction on the ground as I possibly could. We whizzed past a flash of white, red, and black, skidding as we made a turn and practically launching ourselves onto the tiny street where my entire family had landed. _You have poor nostalgic timing, _I thought to myself.

"Geez they totally rearranged this town. Guess we're going to have to take a detour." Sonic suddenly disappeared around a sharp left turn. I stumbled after him, working double time to catch up. The inner workings of the town were a complete blur and the rain hit against me hard. The buildings were a streak of bricks and shades of tan, even in the dark. The wind pushed against our backs, encouraging us forward while trees lining the streets cheered us on with their rustling leaves.

"So just wondering why are you helping us out?" Sully shouted over the thunder. By his expression he was beginning to think Sonic was, if anything, a complete idiot. It basically said: "Didn't he just see the news? We were clearly called accomplices. In fact, we might have just ruined your reputation all in one day."

"Let's just say I know what it's like to be bunched in with the wrong crowd," he responded. "Turn!"

He leapt to the right and I scrambled after him, noticing the police car that rushed by just in time to see us. The few others behind him didn't overlook us either, but managed to cause chaos by trying to turn onto the street all at once.

Sprinting onto the main, brightly lit street, I only had seconds to observe the glass paneled building before us. It was titled "New Station Square" in golden letters and inside were people walking into a very sleek looking grey train. Without hesitating, we ran into the revolving doors and straight into the what we hoped would be our ticket out of here.

"Last call for Mystic Ruins," said a feminine voice overhead. Another flash of lightning bleached the town, highlighting the partially black police cars rushing toward the station. Sonic and I looked around, but there was no way to get the doors shut. Even though no one else was boarding, they still had to wait the allotted time. Officers began exiting the cars and thunder roared ominously in the distance.

Abruptly the automatic metal doors slammed shut and with a click the train started moving forward slowly.

"You're welcome," yawned Lily. Sonic put her down, only for her to flop onto one of the cushioned seats and curl into her tail.

"I know you're all into the' I am She-man' or whatever but you can put me down now," Sully said. For the taunt, I let him fall through my hands. For the fact that he fell asleep before even hitting the ground, I put him on one of the seats. We had the space to ourselves, but we still had to be careful. In the other cabins, there were people on board.

"Nice job out their kid. Never thought I would meet someone _almost_ as fast as I am." The blue hedgehog had his arms crossed over his chest with a confident smile. Now I was allowed a good look at him, and the only thing I could really call him was interesting. There was nothing about his round body that said he was built for fighting, or even speed. His blue quills that spiked out from the back of his head were peculiar. Disregarding his underbelly, arms, and mouth he was a bright shade of blue with green eyes to match. In his defense, I had never seen a hedgehog before, but I still thought he looked weird.

"My name is not kid, its Azalea, and almost is an understatement. From what I understand, I'm not the only fast creature you've met." My star struck attitude had faded as I was beginning to analyze the situation. Now was not the time to act like a sixteen year old. I had stuff to get done.

Sonic blinked for a moment and then recalled what I had begun to ask him at the casino.

"Oh right Blaze the Cat. Yeah I met her awhile back. Just one of my many worthwhile adventures." He shrugged, as if he just ran around saving people like it was his business. "Is she in trouble?"

I stared at him silently.

"Honestly, I don't know. I'm just wondering if you could tell me anything about her."

He began to pace the cabin. "Well I mean…she's a purple cat that guards her own version of the Chaos Emeralds. I think she's a princess from another dimension or something." He sat with his back against the wall and one leg on the seating area. Mesmerized by the storm outside, I didn't take into account Sonic's brief summary until a considerable amount of time had passed.

"That's it?" I didn't want to sound ungrateful, because the part of "another dimension" was definitely key, but I had expected more.

"What were you expecting? An essay?" Sonic's aloof attitude definitely wasn't helping. I'm sure he knew more, but I only considered how tired he may be once my body began feeling weary. Sitting across from my brother, I listened to the rush of the tracks underneath and swayed with each bump.

"Forget it. Where are we going?" He replied with a snore. I guess it was rude of me to ask any more of him anyways, so I indulged in the silence. Going home was a priority, but I knew that it wouldn't be the same without mom and dad. I would still try to get Sonic to tell me as much about Blaze as he knew, but getting home would have to wait. Saving mom and dad had just made it to the top of the list.

For the rest of the trip I stayed awake, mulling over how difficult our lives were becoming.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Meanwhile…On Angel Island

_I knew it. Why didn't you follow your instinct Knuckles? You knew something was going on since last night. _

I inspected my side, smelling the aroma of singed fur. If it wasn't for the fact that I could glide, the Master Emerald would have knocked me off of the island and left me for dead. All day it had seemed pent up and strained, as if it would burst any minute. The weather had been dreary, but there's nothing suspicious about rain. The general vicinity had gone undisturbed, so there was no reason for the Master Emerald to be acting this way.

Looking up, squinting against the bullet-like rain, I noticed green waves of light pulsate and disappear. The energy passed right through me, refreshing and no longer hostile. Part of me anticipated something to reveal itself and steal the emerald, but nothing came about, and Angel Island remained floating steadily in the stormy weather. In a sense, everything was okay, but I was officially at a loss.

As I said earlier, I'm Knuckles, Guardian of the Master Emerald. I'm sure most of you know of my adventures, and misadventures, with Sonic and company. During my life's more peaceful moments you can find me sitting near the Master Emerald's shrine. I have done almost everything and anything in my power to preserve what was left behind by my ancestors. Sometimes it's gotten me into interesting situations, but I can't say I regret any of them.

But this isn't like anything that had happened before. The Master Emerald didn't shatter, Angel Island didn't fall, and Eggman was nowhere to be insight. I waited a few moments to see if the strength of the energy would change, but it didn't budge. It was like it was trying to reach out and calm something down.

I flew my way back up to the island, pushing past the rain and vicious winds. Reaching the Master Emerald wasn't any problem. It was like a glowing beacon against the black sky. Casually I strode up to it, the energy pulses stronger and more concentrated than ever.

"You're in one piece, so what's going on?"

I didn't expect a response, but every now and then the emerald feels generous. Images of the Chaos Emeralds appeared then a figure wrapped in flames in between another group of familiar looking emeralds. These were an emerald cut, but had the exact same colors. I frowned.

"What are you trying to tell me?"

The picture abruptly went dim and faded. It had let a few more waves of energy since then, but suddenly stopped. I gave it a few moments, but it didn't budge. It only rotated as it usually did. _I guess it's nothing that can't be handled when the time comes. _Settling back down on one of the steps, I leaned back. It was still raining, but not as badly.

"Ah!" I shouted as a blast of pure energy hit my back full force. I tumbled and stood, making an X with my fists to hold off the aftershock. Its rhythm was a harsh heartbeat slowly pushing me back, but what I saw kept me in place for a few more seconds.

A translucent figure hovered, a shade of purple that seemed reminiscent of someone I had met before. At first, the Chaos Emeralds surrounded her, but then they became the rectangle ones, and continued to shift forms. It seemed as if she was in the middle of a ritual.

A ghost like figure appeared and thrust a curved blade through the lilac apparition's chest. Her eyes opened, a solid amber unlike any other color. The energy once again recoiled, and I knew better than to wait around and see what happens. Getting a running start, I made my way back to the mainland.

I turned back, trying to salvage whatever hints would make my life easier. Now I was certain; the lavender animal was that cat woman I had met so long ago. I had never seen anything like the other before. She was a bold white, and when her eyes locked onto me they were a variation of brown. Whatever this meant, it definitely wasn't good.

Mid-glide, the Master Emerald let out another violent pulse and knocked me out of the air. I slammed right into the rock face of the mountain, and slid down onto the fresh green grass with a thud. Irritated, I had no intention of getting up before sleeping.

On the other hand...,

We dragged ourselves out of the train station. I was drunk with sleep while Lily and Sully were lucky enough to be groggy from their nap. Sonic didn't seem too affected overall. We descended the wooden platform onto the dirt ground. Between the rain and blurred vision, I could just barely make out the idea that this was a vaguely exotic place. From the smell of it, this area has been overrun with people and animals alike. It had probably been more jungle-like in the past.

Sonic mouthed something which seemed like "Follow me," but it was hard to catch over the rain and waterfall. He moved slowly, but our destination wasn't far. After a flight of stairs he opened the door to a small home near the edge of the Mystic Ruin.

"Tails?" he called out into the darkness, flicking a light on. It was simple and grey on the inside with a spiral staircase leading upstairs. The living room consisted of two chairs. Sully and Lily sat down while Sonic waited for a response. None came.

He scratched the back of his head thoughtfully and looked hesitant.

"Well, I guess he won't mind visitors. Azalea, why don't you take yourself and uhh," he pointed at Lily, "upstairs. We'll stay down here."

I nodded, yawning widely and taking Lily into my arms and climbing up the stairs. On the top floor were two simple beds, both neatly made but one clearly more inhabited than the other. Putting Lily down on the untouched one, I collapsed onto the other. A familiar sensation warmed my body and made it relax. No longer tense I fell asleep hoping that tomorrow would give way to more progress.

"Pst, wake up!"

A moment passed before he shook my shoulders. "Zelly wake up no one's here right now."

"So? Even more reason to sleep," I grumbled. Rubbing my eye I sat up. Lily was still asleep, but she would probably wake up soon with Sully and me talking so close by. He moved his head about and around me curiously.

"Where's your sword?" His tone was concerned. I patted at my waist as if I wouldn't notice something curved and about a foot long. I shrugged.

"I must have left it behind when I went to catch Lily. It was probably blown to pieces."

"Are you kidding me Azalea? That sword was important!" Sully shouted. Lily stirred. I glared at him.

"Really? And how would _you_ know?" I snarled. I really doubt he had remembered something, so there was no evidence that it was actually important. All it had been and will ever be was a sword, a form of defense. My hands and legs worked just as well.

"Damn it Zelly you question that now but you don't remember anything that says we're family, so how would _you _know?" he snapped, his muzzle a breadth away from mine. His fur bristled and his lip curved upward menacingly.

"Now is not the time to be pointing fingers _brother_. We do not have time to panic about our parents' capture. Let's get the information we came for and then rescue them." We stared at each other until he leaned away from me and swiped a paw through his fur.

"He doesn't know that we were part of it yet," he stated with a sigh.

"We can't lie. We need to tell him the truth."

"The truth is ludicrous Azalea!" He raised his voice again, arms wide in disbelief that I would even consider it. "He'll have us out on the street with nothing to go off of, or worse turn us into G.U.N himself!"

"Sully we can't hide it forever. He'll find out, and then what? There's even less of a chance he'll take our word," I argued, my own voice rising to match his.

His mouth gaped at me incredulously. The fight was about to crescendo into a discorded mess of shouting and bickering. How Lily did not wake up, I could not tell you. The matter of fact is Sully and I spent whatever time we had alone striding around the room and presenting our case. Even when our stomachs growled and begged us to get something to eat, we continued our onslaught. We only stopped when the door audibly opened and voices were heard discussing a topic heatedly as well.

"Knuckles this is different. The Master Emerald is letting out a high amount of energy over a long distance," said a young voice from downstairs.

"Look the emerald is still okay isn't it? I can handle this," commented a much deeper voice.

"Come on Knucklehead it was obviously trying to warn you of some kind of trouble," said Sonic casually. Curiously Sully and I crept to the top of the stairs, a temporary truce. Down on our stomachs we slithered until we could see who was in the living room. With Sonic were a shorter, cuter fox boy and a taller, red animal that looked disheveled.

"How many times have I told you about that nickname," growled Red threateningly, raising an abnormal fist at him. Sonic seemed too nonchalant to notice.

"Hey guys whatcha doin?"

Sully leapt up and slid down the stairs. I followed shortly after a sharp yelp once my nerves registered a sharp pressure on my tail. Once we landed at the bottom, we turned to glare at Lily, who gave us a guilty smile.

"It's you!" the red one pointed at me accusingly.

Lily would pay for this, dearly.


End file.
